Riley's Rhymes - Hey Diddle Diddle with free printable

If you have been following the blog, you may have noticed that I have a new section called Riley's Rhymes. What is Riley's Rhymes? It is a gentle form of tot school that focuses on nursery rhymes and songs while learning about shapes and colors. While I do not believe in formal education for my tot. I created this for my tot since he was always asking to do "school." Our new Riley's Rhymes mini unit is the rhyme - Hey Diddle Diddle. The shape we will be learning about is the crescent (moon) and the color white.

I included a visual schedule. I am a visual learner and it just helps to have pictures of what I want to accomplish.

I added clothespin cards - match the shape on the plate with the correct shape in the box. Have your child clip a clothespin on the answer.

 I included a two part puzzle that I will make magnetic and a sewing card. Riley likes the sewing cards.

There are spoon number cards. Have your child add glass beads or pom poms to the handle of the spoon while counting.

Sort the moons - large and small moon sort. You could even practice patterning if your child is ready. Enjoy the new mini unit.

Download Hey Diddle Diddle Mini Unit HERE.

Into the Forest Interactive Science Notebook with free printable

The kids and I are currently working through Winter Promise's Animals and Their World for Science. I wanted to create something to go-along with the study besides the animal notebook pages. I made an interactive notebook for the first unit - Forest. In this notebook, you will find mini books to create as you read each day. There are books for each animal that you read about and your child can fill each book with as little or as much as they would like. This Interactive Notebook can be used alone as well.

I started with a table of contents that your child cane fill out as he goes along the habitat study. There is a tab for each habitat.

Mini books for each topic studied. My J loves to color so there is plenty to color.

Each major animal that we study has a full page to fill out. It covers food the animal eats, whether it is a predator or prey, three interesting facts that they learned, and any adaptations that the animal has to survive;

Any extra activities such as our owl pellet book (which was found on another site) can be added as well.

At the end of the unit there is a board game with markers and cards. As a review, the kids wrote questions based on their unit and using their notebooks. We played this game a few times. At the end of the year, it can be used a a cumulative review by using all of the question cards.

The kids loved making the game and playing it. It helped them to remember the animals they studied.

This is the cover of our Science notebook. We used a black and white composition notebook because I heard they hold up better than the spiral ones. I had them color the cover and I used clear tape to add it to the outside of the notebook. For my first grader, I assemble the notebook without the facts in the notebook for each unit. Then, all he has to do is open to the next mini book for the lesson. For my older student, I just give her the mini book that we are working on for the day and she adds it to her notebook herself. It has been a great addition to our study and the kids like adding their own illustrations throughout the pages. I hope you enjoy.

Download Forest Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

Riley's Rhymes - 5 Little Pumpkins

My newest installment for Riley's Rhymes is Five Little Pumpkins. I wanted to do a fall theme but I didn't want to include scary items so I found a non-scary version of the rhyme. I hope you enjoy my newest rhyme mini pack.

As always, I included a visual schedule. I am a visual learner and I like being able to look at the idea that I want to recreate. I found some mini pumpkin erasers at Target and I knew pumpkins just needed to be my next theme. (I hadn't planned on this, so it is a bonus unit!)

If you have been following Riley's Rhymes, we will know that we are focusing on shapes, colors, and nursery rhymes. I made some simple pumpkin shape puzzles that I would laminate and add magnets to for a cookie sheet activity. I also made a version of these puzzles for mega blocks, which is the activity I used.

I made color sorting pumpkins. These colorful pumpkins you can add to a 6 cup muffin tin and have your child use tweezers or tongs to separate colored pom poms. I also included a a pumpkin sewing card and Pumpkin numbers. Use the number pumpkins to add either pom poms or the little pumpkin erasers to practice counting and number recognition. I included a black and white version that you could print on orange paper to save ink. Enjoy our pumpkin unit. Riley in action will be posted later.

Download Five Little Pumpkins mini unit HERE.

Links

Owl Preschool - has a free mini book for the Five Little Pumpkins - the non scary version. This is the book that will be the base of our unit.

Letter Z Interactive Notebook with free printable

I can't believe I finally did it - I finished the entire set of Interactive Notebooks for the alphabet. Wow. It is easy to finish something when your kids are working on your pages but I found it extremely difficult to finish these because my kids are in between these pages - either too old or too young. But I finished. Now they will be ready when my tot is ready to learn the alphabet.

Sort the Zinnias into the correct jar. My vision for this game is add the zinnias to popsicle sticks and pockets to the back of the jars. Then your child can sort the flowers into the upper or lower case Z's.

I found these cute alphabet fruit and veggie graphics. I made alphabet cards and I would work on alphabet order - choose two cards such as J and L and have your child find the missing letter. Or you could offer 3 cards such as C, A, and B. And have your child put them in the correct order.

The math game is a review of counting by fives - a Zoo strip puzzle. I would laminate and add magnets for easier use. I hope you enjoy using these printables. I would love to hear from you.

Download Letter Z Interactive Notebook Puzzle HERE.

Letter Y Interactive Notebook with free printable

Here's the letter Y Interactive Notebook. I am so close that I can see the finish line. I truly can't wait to use these printables with my tot Riley. Enjoy.

Included in the download is the letter Y puzzle. My favorite way of working with these is adding small magnets to the back and using a cookie sheet to assemble them.

The letter sort - sorting upper and lower case yarn letters into the correct basket. Add some envelopes or pockets to the back so the yarn can slip right in.

A alphabet review game- follow the yoyo path.

My math activity for this letter is counting by 2's. Put the yarn balls in order when counting by 2's. I also added a ruler. You could cut yarn lengths in 2 inch intervals and have your child measure the lengths and add them to the correct yarn ball. Hope you enjoy this download.

Download Letter Y Interactive Notebook HERE.

Letter X Interactive Notebook with free printable

Letter X is finally here....so close to finishing:) Hope you enjoy the download.

My letter sort game is based on treasure chests. Sort the upper and lower case coins into the correct treasure chest. Add envelopes to the back of the chests so the coins will slip right in the pockets.

I added a letter review game - get to the treasure ...X marks the spot. You play this several different ways. One way - your child chooses an alphabet card and covers the letter that he/she says. When they are all covered, they can get the treasure.

My math game is addition to five. Using colored linking blocks, your child chooses a math card and works through the problem using manipulative. If the answer is a number 3, for example, they find a 3 and cover it with a green block. If you don't have the linking cubes, you could use pom poms. Have fun with the letter X.

Download Letter X Interactive Notebook HERE.

Letter W Interactive Notebook with free printable

I am finally at the letter W in my Interactive Notebook series. Only a few more letters left - Yay! Here are a few pages that are included in my download.

I always have a letter puzzle page. These work well when you laminate the pieces and add small magnets to the back. The magnets prevent the puzzle from slipping. You could also add small pieces of velcro to the puzzle and add it to the notebook.

The letter sort is collecting watermelons in wagons. I would add envelopes to the back of the wagons so the child can slide them into the pockets when working the sort.

I like to add a math game to each notebook. This time I added doubles in addition. Having a child know their doubles makes other addition so much easier. I made addition puzzles with whales. Enjoy the download.

Download Letter W Interactive Notebook HERE.

Riley's Rhymes - Itsy Bitsy Spider

A new unit is ready for Riley's Rhymes - Itsy Bitsy Spider. It is the month of October and it seemed like a good time to pull out our spider rhyme. If you haven't heard of Riley's Rhymes - it is a gentle tot school with a focus on nursery rhymes and songs while learning about shapes and colors. I want you to know that I am not pushing "school" on my tot. He asked me to do school and this is what I came up with ;)

Today, I am offering the spider min unit download.

Here is my visual schedule for Itsy Bitsy Spider. I an a visual learner and I love the picture schedule. If you notice, there is only one activity planned for each day. I didn't want to overwhelm Riley so I only planned for one a day. Riley usually wants to do more so I have other activities in his basket. I place each activity into a ziplock bag with all of the items needed to complete it. So it is just grab and go. After we read the book based on the rhyme, Riley will choose a bag and we will work the activity.

In my unit, I have included 2 part spider puzzles to reinforce color recognition. I laminated these and placed magnets on the back.

Another activity in my download are spider number cards. I am only focusing on counting, not so much as number recognition. But, if I know Riley, he will want to match the colors of the pompoms to the colors of the spiders. We will be using our pom pom magnets with these cards. These are just a few activities included in the download. There are also shape two part puzzles and a shape game as well as the coloring page for the bag book. Enjoy.

Download Itsy Bitsy Spider Mini Pack HERE.

Letter V Interactive Notebook with free printable

Still working on completing my interactive notebooks for the alphabet. Today, you can download the letter V....only 4 more to go! Yay! Here are a few activities that are included.

What begins with V mini books. Cut the flaps and add pictures of words that begin with the letter V.

Vacuum the V dirt piles! Add the dirt piles to the correct vacuums - upper and lower case letter sort game.

Which way are the vans pointing....left or right? Another good skill to know is left and right. Practice this using the van game. Enjoy the printable.

Download the Letter V Interactive Notebook HERE.

Riley's Rhymes - Wheels on the Bus with free printable

I am super excited about a new idea that I have developed for my tot - Riley. He has been feeling left out while I work with J and Kaleb during school. He asked me to do "school" with him. I truly feel like he is too young to start learning the alphabet and I didn't want to push "school" too soon. But I did want to work with him in an intentional way. So, I began Riley's Rhymes - it is a year long program that is based on nursery rhymes and songs.

Each unit for Riley's Rhymes is based on one rhyme or song with a shape and color focus. I have included several activities to enforce the learning and, in the end, they will be combined to create one big paper bag book. Each unit is two to three weeks long (or longer, if you would like) and I only do "school" when Riley asks. I keep all activities in a plastic bin and ready to go, all items included so I am not searching for things when I am working with him.

With each unit, there will be a unit download. It will include some of the games and printables that we used to make it easier for you to plan your own rhyme unit. Our first unit for Riley's Rhymes was The Wheels on the Bus - it seemed appropriate for the start of school. I tried to find age appropriate activities which will vary depending on the child. So when you work your own unit, pick and choose what you think you can use.

Now, before I get angry emails or comments, I do NOT believe that my three year old NEEDS school. I am doing this because of my child interest in wanting to have his own "school" like his brother and sister. My focus is learning fun based on rhymes/songs with practice in colors and shapes.  I am NOT teaching the alphabet or forcing my child to do anything he does not want to do. I am allowing him to take the lead and, if ever, he wants to stop - I will stop.

So, without further ado....my Wheels on the Bus mini unit for Riley's Rhymes.

Each unit is based on two weeks (or more if needed) and has a visual schedule. I planned one activity per day as well as some notebook pages. I am a visual learner so I like the visual schedule. I place each activity into a gallon ziplock bag along with all of the items needed so Riley can pick and go.

I found this activity on pinterest but couldn't find a printable for it, so I made one myself. Using our pom pom magnets, Riley matched the wheels on the bus.

I made a simple game. Riley would roll the die and cover the shape that it landed on. This was a great opportunity to reinforce colors and shapes. We used the pom pom magnets from the previous game.

I made a simple rhyme sheet for the paper bag book. Also, included in this download is a cover for your child to color. I am using the large paper bags that you can get at the grocery store. These are a few of the activities that I have included in my mini unit. Please see Riley's Rhymes Wheels on the Bus in Action to see all of the activities that we did.

Download Wheels on the Bus Mini Unit HERE.

Letter U Interactive Notebook with free printable

Another Wheel School Interactive Notebook done - the letter U. Yay! I am getting to the end of these but only to add new printables to create :) Here are a few activities that are included in the download.

I always start with the letter mini books - what begins with the letter U.

This one is silly - sort the upper and lower case letters into the correct laundry basket. IT was just screaming to use underwear!

An umbrella alphabet review game - a simple and fun way to review the alphabet.

I always try to include a simple math activity for each notebook printable. This one may be somewhat difficult but I think if you use glass beads as counters, you can explain odd and even numbers. If everyone has a pair - it is even. If not, odd. Enjoy the download.

Download Letter U Interactive Notebook HERE.